Wealthy, attractive Lucas Reika treats life like a party, moving from bar to bar and man to man. Thumbing his nose at his restaurateur father’s demand that he earn his keep, Lucas instead seduces a valued employee in the kitchen of their flagship restaurant, earning himself an ultimatum: lose access to his father’s money or stay in the middle of nowhere with a man he has secretly lusted over from afar.
Quiet, hard-working Jared McFarland loves his farm on the outskirts of Hope, Arizona, but he aches to have someone to come home to at the end of the day. Jared agrees to take in his longtime crush as a favor. But when Lucas invades his heart in addition to his space, Jared has to decide how much of himself he’s willing to risk and figure out if he can offer Lucas enough to keep him after his father’s punishment is over.
Cardeno C. – CC to friends – is a hopeless romantic who wants to add a lot of happiness and a few “awwws” into a reader’s day. Writing is a nice break from real life as a corporate type and volunteer work with gay rights organizations. Cardeno’s stories range from sweet to intense, contemporary to paranormal, long to short, but they always include strong relationships and walks into the happily-ever-after sunset.
Cardeno’s Home, Family, and Mates series have received awards from Love Romances and More Golden Roses, Rainbow Awards, the Goodreads M/M Romance Group, and various reviewers. But even more special to CC are heartfelt reactions from readers, like, “You bring joy and love and make it part of the every day.”
As part of this blog tour, Cardeno is giving away an Audio Copy (from Audible) of McFarland’s Farmto one lucky winner!! To enter, just click the link below!
Please be aware that the only way to enter the giveaway is to click the Rafflecopter link above. Any comments on this post will not count towards entering the giveaway unless otherwise stated but are still welcome anyway.
Don’t forget to check out Morgan’s review of McFarnland’s Farm to see what she thought of it!
Title: McFarland’s Farm Author: Cardeno C. Narrator: Paul Morey Series: Hope #1 Heroes: Lucas Reika/Jared McFarland Genre: MM Contemporary Length: Book – 56 Pages / Audio – 2 Hours, 34 Minutes Publisher: Dreamspinner Press Release Date: Book – September 10, 2014 / Audio – November 11, 2014 Available at:Amazon and Audible Add it to your shelf:Goodreads
Blurb: Wealthy, attractive Lucas Reika treats life like a party, moving from bar to bar and man to man. Thumbing his nose at his restaurateur father’s demand that he earn his keep, Lucas instead seduces a valued employee in the kitchen of their flagship restaurant, earning himself an ultimatum: lose access to his father’s money or stay in the middle of nowhere with a man he has secretly lusted over from afar.
Quiet, hard-working Jared McFarland loves his farm on the outskirts of Hope, Arizona, but he aches to have someone to come home to at the end of the day. Jared agrees to take in his longtime crush as a favor. But when Lucas invades his heart in addition to his space, Jared has to decide how much of himself he’s willing to risk and figure out if he can offer Lucas enough to keep him after his father’s punishment is over. Continue reading →
Title: On Wings of Song Author: Anne Barwell Heroes: Jochen Weber/Aiden Foster Genre: MM Historical Romance Length: 110 pages Publisher: Dreamspinner Press Release Date: December 24, 2014 Available at:Dreamspinner Press and Amazon Add it to your shelf:Goodreads
Blurb: Six years after meeting British soldier Aiden Foster during the Christmas Truce of 1914, Jochen Weber still finds himself thinking about Aiden, their shared conversation about literature, and Aiden’s beautiful singing voice. A visit to London gives Jochen the opportunity to search for Aiden, but he’s shocked at what he finds.
The uniform button Jochen gave him is the only thing Aiden has left of the past he’s lost. The war and its aftermath ripped everything away from him, including his family and his music. When Jochen reappears in his life, Aiden enjoys their growing friendship but knows he has nothing to offer. Not anymore. Continue reading →
Title: Hummingbird House Author: Kenzie Cade Series: Celebrate! – 2014 Advent Calendar Heroes: Trenton & Callum Genre: M/M Contemporary Length: 57 pages Publisher: Dreamspinner Press Release Date: December 1, 2014 Available at:Dreamspinner Press & Amazon Add it to your shelf:Goodreads
Blurb: To honor his grandmother’s final request, Trenton Appleton drops everything to visit the family’s ancestral home: Hummingbird House, where he experienced his first kiss and first heartbreak with Callum Eason.
Eight years ago, confused by his attraction to Trent, Callum reacted badly. But with help he never expected, Callum found himself and learned to accept who he was.
Now Trent is back at Hummingbird House, and Callum has his opportunity to salvage their friendship, at least. But Trent is less receptive than he was all those years ago. Still, Callum is determined to show Trent he has changed and keep his promise to Trent’s grandmother. When past mistakes repeat themselves, Callum must break the cycle before his last chance with Trent passes him by.
A story from the Dreamspinner Press 2014 Advent Calendar package “Celebrate!”.
While my favorite movie with Kevin Costner is Bull Durham, (because I too, am a charter member of the church of baseball), I very much enjoyed his 90’s Westerns, Dances with Wolves and Wyatt Earp.
Kevin’s a pretty, pretty man, and there’s just something so earnest about him. He brings back the quiet cowboy of the High Noon variety, and probably got himself a lot of comparisons to Gary Cooper. He’s a local boy, or rather, he spent a lot of his childhood in Southern California, and for a long time, he went to school a few minutes from where I live at Cal State Fullerton, our local college. I worked and went to school there at different times in the eighties. I’d like to say I saw Kevin Costner there in person but I was a few years too late. 😦
I remember seeing Dances with Wolves in the movie theater when it came out. Despite how long that film ran, I never spent a minute wondering how much longer we had to go. It was a great, visually stunning movie.
My thoughts are complicated about Wyatt Earp. On the one hand, I liked the movie, on the other, I didn’t like the Earp Brothers. I didn’t feel very connected to the characters and I thought it was awfully violent. I did like Denis Quaid. I thought he was amazing as Doc Holiday. Part of me still wants a love story about Wyatt Earp and Doc Holiday. (With liberal poetic license and less tuberculosis.)
About My Cowboy Homecoming
Love can heal the deepest wounds…
A sense of duty brings a soldier home…but a passionate cowboy makes him want to stay.
After his brother’s tragic death, Tripp has to leave the army and return to New Mexico to take care of his mother while his father is in prison for arson. Seeking work at the J-Bar Ranch, Tripp is immediately drawn to injured cowboy Lucho Reyes, whose foot was accidentally crushed by a rescue horse. But will the sins of the father interfere with the desires of the son? Tripp’s father may be responsible for the death of Lucho’s grandfather. Now Tripp must balance caring for his mother, repairing his father’s damages, and trying to win the heart of a man who has every reason to hate him and his family…
The road home was less auspicious than I thought it would be. Traffic slowed to a bare crawl outside Las Cruces, and the overheated bus had started to smell.
Just like on every bus, everywhere in the world, people were packed in tight. They stared ahead expressionlessly, as if that cramped, anonymous ride was the best they could expect because it probably was.
All four westbound lanes had been forced into one until at last we reached what seemed like a flare-lit city of fire trucks, police cars, and ambulances. Uniforms covered the highway like ants at a picnic.
When I saw the wreck, my heart gave a lurch. An old yellow school bus with “Iglesias Angelica Bautista” written on the side had been hit head-on by a double tractor-trailer truck. The impact had scattered debris all over both sides of the highway.
A single battered high-top sneaker lay in the middle of the street, blood-spattered and abandoned. I couldn’t take my eyes off it as we drove past.
The front of the wrecked school bus was crushed like an accordion. No way the driver survived the crash. There were others lying still and lifeless beneath sad yellow tarps. EMTs raced between people lying side by side in a makeshift triage area.
I tried to make myself do the deep breathing the army shrinks taught me. I thought about trying the other bullshit stopgap measures I was supposed to deploy before going to the little pills they gave me for anxiety, which I’d thrown away anyway. I tried repeating nonsense rhymes and visualizing my happy place, but the fact is, if you’ve been in a sniper’s crosshairs long enough, it’s hard to convince yourself there’s nobody trying to kill you anymore.
I was home, goddamnit. I wasn’t in danger. Except . . . we’re all in danger all the time. We just don’t know it.
As we inched past the wreck, even I—with the knowledge of how random and tragic fate could be—shook with shock. I couldn’t take my eyes off that shoe lying by itself in the street because my brother used to wear those same Converse high-tops when he was about five. Chucks. I got annoyed every time I heard his little feet padding after me as I tried to run away and play with my “big kid” friends.
Wish I had that now.
Wish I had time to play with him and a chance to know him, now that we were both out from under our father’s thumb, but while I’d been deployed to the valley CNN once called the most dangerous place on earth, my brother got killed on the I-10, exactly like the poor bastard who was driving that bus.
Random.
The stifling heat made the Greyhound nearly unbearable. A woman on the seat behind me cried out to Jesus, starting a prayer that three or four of the other passengers echoed. Instinct, still honed to razor-sharp readiness, lifted me to my feet, even though the bus was moving.
“Sit down,” said the old man next to me, whose skin was gray with age and probably cigarettes. Tattoos littered his forearms, including one I recognized, the Devil Dog. Marines. “What do you think you’re going to do out there they aren’t already doing?”
I shrugged and sat.
He studied me. “Just get back?”
“Yeah.”
That got a laugh. “I thought so. You look it.”
“How so?”
He just stared at me then, and something passed between us. Anxiety and fatigue and that indefinable pinch of pain, as if our lives were too small now, and it hurt to walk around in them.
“Yeah.” I glanced away.
I sat still, even though every cell in my body was telling me I should do something. It was both my nature and, up until recently, my job to keep order. Yet now my TOS was up, and I was going home.
In spite of everything, I stayed still.
It seemed like it took forever to pass the accident.
“Lordy, Lordy.” The woman behind me cried softly. “Sweet Jesus, help your children in their hour of need.”
I let my old, cold friend discipline flow through my heart and I looked away.
Maybe I’d built up this illusion that home was a place made of safety and order, but that goddamn shoe told me different.
Anyhow, that’s why I was late getting into Deming.
About Z.A. Maxfield
Z.A. Maxfield started writing in 2007 on a dare from her children and never looked back. Pathologically disorganized, and perennially optimistic, she writes as much as she can, reads as much as she dares, and enjoys her time with family and friends. Three things reverberate throughout all her stories: Unconditional love, redemption, and the belief that miracles happen when we least expect them.
If anyone asks her how a wife and mother of four can find time for a writing career, she’ll answer, “It’s amazing what you can accomplish if you give up housework.”
Please be aware that the only way to enter the giveaway is to click the Rafflecopter link above. Any comments on this post will not count towards entering the giveaway unless otherwise stated but are still welcome anyway.
Don’t forget to check out Gyn’s review of My Cowboy Homecoming to see what she thought of it!
Title: My Cowboy Homecoming Author: Z.A. Maxfield Series: The Cowboys #3 Heroes: Tripp/Lucho Genre: MM Contemporary Length: 317 Pages Publisher: Penguin/Intermix Release Date: December 2, 2014 Available at: Penguin/Intermix, Amazon and Barnes & Noble Add it to your shelf:Goodreads
Blurb: Love can heal the deepest wounds…
A sense of duty brings a soldier home…but a passionate cowboy makes him want to stay.
After his brother’s tragic death, Tripp has to leave the army and return to New Mexico to take care of his mother while his father is in prison for arson. Seeking work at the J-Bar Ranch, Tripp is immediately drawn to injured cowboy Lucho Reyes, whose foot was accidentally crushed by a rescue horse. But will the sins of the father interfere with the desires of the son? Tripp’s father may be responsible for the death of Lucho’s grandfather. Now Tripp must balance caring for his mother, repairing his father’s damages, and trying to win the heart of a man who has every reason to hate him and his family… Continue reading →
Title: Feels Like Home Author: Rowan McAllister Narrator: Michael Stellman Series: I’ll be home for Christmas Heroes: Jeremy Porter and Paul McClellan Genre: MM Contemporary Length: Book – 78 Pages / Audio – 1 Hour, 46 Minutes Publisher: Dreamspinner Press Release Date: Book – December 1, 2011 / Audio – November 10, 2014 Available at:Dreamspinner Press, Amazon, Audible and iTunes Add it to your shelf:Goodreads
Blurb: It’s only three days ’til Christmas. Jeremy Porter is still grieving over his mother’s death, and Paul McClellan is a lonely divorcee just trying to make it home even though the only one waiting for him is his cat. It may seem like a miserable combination, but when Jeremy saves Paul from being hit by a car during a nasty snowstorm, their connection and chemistry are undeniable. It’s easy to cuddle up with a stranger when you’re snowed in but can a holiday affair turn into more if being together feels like home? Continue reading →
Title: Coming of Age Author: Venona Keyes Series: Celebrate! – 2014 Advent Calendar Heroes: Aero & Daniel Genre: M/M Contemporary Length: 32 pages Publisher: Dreamspinner Press Release Date: December 1, 2014 Available at:Dreamspinner Press & Amazon Add it to your shelf:Goodreads
Blurb: Akiyoshi ‘Aero’ Kurokuma, author of the wildly popular manga, Ecos, lost his assistant when his best friend retired. After Aero collapses from exhaustion four years later, he is forced to run a contest for an assistant. Placing impossible rules on the contest, Aero is sure no one can win. But a winner emerges: a young man from America, Daniel Beck. The first time he lays eyes on Daniel, Aero realizes he’ll have a hard time hiding his attraction. Daniel is a perfect assistant, but it doesn’t help Aero see past the twenty-year age difference between them. It will take all of Daniel’s charm and the prayers offered at the shrine to make Aero take a chance on the romance they both want.
A story from the Dreamspinner Press 2014 Advent Calendar package “Celebrate!”.
In the opening scene of Tangled Mind, Beck Lund walks into to his house and hears his boyfriend Brady choking on his own vomit because of the heroin he injected. Brady dies right in front of Beck’s eyes, and there is nothing he can do to help.
So why start a book there? The simplest answer is that heroin can shut down a person’s natural coughing reflex, causing them to aspirate and choke. So that’s the reality of the drug.
The not so simple answer has to do with Beck and Brady’s relationship. They had a codependent relationship where Beck kowtowed to all of Brady’s needs in order to make life easier for him because Brady suffered from severe depression, untreatable by traditional means. And for Beck to have experienced a situation where he was utterly powerless to help, is earth shattering. He’s always been able to do something.
Beck loved Brady very much despite how unbalanced their relationship was, but it was by no means a healthy one. He would likely have stayed with Brady until he was used up. You’d think Beck would at least feel some relief or sense of freedom, but he’s utterly lost without Brady. It was a symbiotic relationship where Beck gained meaning from being a helper and being needed.
From the outside, Timothy Kallis, Beck’s best friend, sees how much Beck has struggled in the past, but it’s even worse after Brady’s death. Timothy wants to help him deal with the grief, but he also wants to see Beck grow stronger. Yet he sees how adrift Beck still is months after Brady’s death and helps Beck seek out professional help. So while Beck is working on recovering from a co-dependent relationship, he’s completely oblivious to the fact that Timothy has loved him from afar for years. Beck needs to be oblivious to other peoples’ wants so he can focus on his own for the first time, because after being in a codependent relationship for so long, he’s forgotten how to listen to his gut.
Brady’s death is the impetus of change that never would’ve happened for both Beck and Timothy. Beck would’ve continued in his life with Brady until he was so ruined that he’d become a shell of a man. Timothy wouldn’t have pushed Beck to get help or made other small changes to show Beck his affection. Sometimes we need the earth to shake so we can make changes in our lives.
Recovery has to happen before Beck has a chance of being in a healthy, egalitarian relationship, which he needs to be. Recovery before love. But if Beck can’t recognize Timothy’s affection for him, it might be too late for them to move beyond friendship.
About Tangled Mind
For years Beck Lund has taken care of his volatile boyfriend Brady, always putting Brady’s needs above his own and walking on eggshells to keep the peace. After Brady overdoses on heroin, his death devastates Beck. Thankfully his best friend, Timothy Kallis, finds him the help he needs. Beck slowly starts to recover and moves in with Timothy to get back on his feet, but he’s oblivious that Timothy is secretly nursing romantic affection for him.
Beck focuses on his own healing for the first time in his life. After months of challenging his codependent tendencies and learning how to stand up for himself, Beck finally starts to trust his gut and hopes to one day love again. Timothy is patient throughout, taking care of Beck in ways no one ever has. But if Beck can’t recognize Timothy’s affection for him, it might be too late for them to move beyond friendship.
Posy Roberts writes about romantic male love. Whether her characters are family men, drag queens, or lonely men searching for connections, they all find a home in her stories.
Posy is married to a man who makes sure she doesn’t forget to eat or sleep; her daughter, a budding author and loyal Brony, helps her come up with character names. When Posy’s not writing, she enjoys crafting, hiking, and singing spontaneously about the mundane, just to make normal seem more interesting.
Please be aware that the only way to enter the giveaway is to click the Rafflecopter link above. Any comments on this post will not count towards entering the giveaway unless otherwise stated but are still welcome anyway.
Title: Canning the Center Author: Tara Lain Series: Long Pass Chronicles #2 Heroes: Jamal Jones/Travor Landry Genre: MM Contemporary Length: 250 Pages Publisher: Dreamspinner Press Release Date: December 17, 2014 Available at: Dreamspinner Press and Amazon Add it to your shelf:Goodreads
Blurb: Six foot seven inch, 300 pound Jamal Jones loves football, so when he finds out the ultra-conservative owner of his new pro football team fired their current center because he’s gay, bisexual Jamal decides to stay in the closet and hang with the females. Then, at a small drag show, he comes face-to-face with his sexual fantasy in the form of Trixie LaRue, a drag queen so exquisitely convincing she scrambles Jamal’s hormones — and his resolve to nurse his straight side.
Trevor Landry, aka Trixie LaRue, hides more than his genitals. A mathematician so brilliant he can’t be measured, Trevor disguises his astronomical IQ and his quirk for women’s clothes behind his act as a gay activist undergrad at Southern California University.
To Trevor, Jamal is the answer to a dream — a man who can love and accept both his personas. When he discovers Jamal’s future is threatened if he’s seen with a guy, Trevor becomes Trixie to let Jamal pass as straight. But Trevor risks his position every time he puts on a dress. Is there a closet big enough to hold a football pro and a drag queen? Continue reading →
Wealthy, attractive Lucas Reika treats life like a party, moving from bar to bar and man to man. Thumbing his nose at his restaurateur father’s demand that he earn his keep, Lucas instead seduces a valued employee in the kitchen of their flagship restaurant, earning himself an ultimatum: lose access to his father’s money or stay in the middle of nowhere with a man he has secretly lusted over from afar.
Title: On Wings of Song
Title: Hummingbird House
Love can heal the deepest wounds…
Z.A. Maxfield started writing in 2007 on a dare from her children and never looked back. Pathologically disorganized, and perennially optimistic, she writes as much as she can, reads as much as she dares, and enjoys her time with family and friends. Three things reverberate throughout all her stories: Unconditional love, redemption, and the belief that miracles happen when we least expect them.
Title: Coming of Age
For years Beck Lund has taken care of his volatile boyfriend Brady, always putting Brady’s needs above his own and walking on eggshells to keep the peace. After Brady overdoses on heroin, his death devastates Beck. Thankfully his best friend, Timothy Kallis, finds him the help he needs. Beck slowly starts to recover and moves in with Timothy to get back on his feet, but he’s oblivious that Timothy is secretly nursing romantic affection for him.
The Blogger Girls 